


Twenty-four, Twenty-four, Twelve, Twenty-four

by Harmonica_Smile (Rescue_Remedy)



Series: Inspired by [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Caring Roronoa Zoro, Complete, Fluff, Gen, Gift Fic, Nakamaship, One Piece Secret Santa 2020, One Shot, Supportive Crew, Tony Tony Chopper's Birthday, Twenty-Four Solar Terms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28422027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rescue_Remedy/pseuds/Harmonica_Smile
Summary: December kids will always feel the pain of having a birthday close to Christmas. Throw being a reindeer born on Christmas Eve into the mix and your special day is guaranteed forgotten. Zoro sets out to fix that.
Relationships: Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Tony Tony Chopper, Roronoa Zoro & Tony Tony Chopper
Series: Inspired by [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1931497
Comments: 11
Kudos: 27
Collections: OP Secret Santa 2020





	Twenty-four, Twenty-four, Twelve, Twenty-four

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pokeharvest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokeharvest/gifts).



> My Secret Santa gift for @pokeharvest on tumblr. I chose your third prompt:
> 
> 3\. Zoro smiling! (art: just zoro smiling, big or small! We need more smiley zoro :) if fic: maybe one of the boys did something dumb and made him laugh/smile?).
> 
> I hope this fits the bill. I think that Zoro has a great relationship with Chopper and it certainly can make him smile (as we saw in chapter 998?) and grimace (Chopper uses him as a launching pad or resting place), and I think it would make him happy to see Chopper happy?
> 
> I've worked in the 12 seasonal units or solar terms of the Chinese calendar (although I've stuck with the 12 months of the solar calendar) to indicate each hour of Chopper's special day, and the way in which Zoro tries to make him feel special, both individually and more widely.
> 
> I hope it works and that you enjoy it.

* * *

**Twenty-four hours in a day, Twenty-four seasons in a year: Twelfth month, Twenty-fourth day**

* * *

**24:00:** **Light Snow** : Chopper had gone to bed at nine pm, as per usual. Zoro popped into the boys' room and fetched another light blanket from the locker and laid it on the end of his bed. Yes, Chopper was a reindeer. Yes, he had fur, but the little fella got cold.

 **01:00** : **Heavy Snow** : After scrubbing the kitchen to within an inch of its life, Sanji had got himself to bed and nodded off pretty quickly. The chef was always on his feet. It was understandable. 

Uncurling from a catnap on the deck, Zoro shivered. The temperature had dropped. He returned to the dormitory, shook out the spare blanket and made sure it was tucked under Chopper's chin and snuggled around his body. He grumbled and twisted a little, but soon fell back to sleep. He wasn't the greatest fan of snow.

 **02:00** **Winter Solstice** : The twenty-fourth was just a few days beyond the twenty-first—the shortest day of the year depending on the year—so no wonder it was chilly. On the upside, the days were finally getting longer.

Zoro usually saw the sunset, but not the sunrise (today would be different), and he kept an eye on the minutes nudging the night from day.

 **03:00** **Lesser Cold** : Longer days but a drop in temperature. More sun but deeper chill. The coldest months always came after the solstice. After Chopper's birthday. Zoro thought about getting a blanket for himself. A sip of sake would do the job.

 **04:00 Greater Cold** : Just before dawn there was a dip, a collective breath of warmth inhaled and held. The walk through half-lit tunnels of night leading into day, the creak of the Sunny as the stars used to guide gave way to the blue of the seas. Zoro checked that he had everything he needed.

 **05:00:** **The Beginning of Spring** : Zoro was happy to be on lookout. Usually he slept a few hours between four and seven once he was certain that sea monsters and marauding pirates were scarce, and once the cook had (quietly) cursed out the morning and kicked his way to the kitchen.

But, on this day of all days the dawn _should_ be magnificent, and it was, clouds like cherry trees in full bloom banked across the sky. Robin had lent him a cameko, left over from her time with the Revs, and he clicked the shutter just as a bird flew into the frame, silhouetted against the morning.

* * *

**6:00** : **Rain Water:** Zoro would grab a few zeds after breakfast. The seas were calm and full of salt. Cook put aside a jar of water. A speckled deer holding the similarly speckled mushroom of longevity in its mouth embossed the glass.

Cook corralled them into laying out tarpaulins to catch water at night, and the rainwater tank was set up too. When he found out who the water was for and its purpose he stopped bitching Zoro out for his weird request. The decorative jar was his touch.

Chopper's eating habits weren't the greatest, but as a doctor he knew the importance of fresh water.

 **7:00** : **Insects Awakening:** The cricket needed to be warm to chirp and fire the Sunny and their resident doctor and birthday boy with good luck. Usopp's pop-greens could generate skunk cabbage, dead-horse arum, voodoo lily, elephant yam, the sacred lotus, or adder's root.

The first three plants stinkbombed enemies with odours ranging from decaying corpse to rotting fruit, and all six were thermogenic. They ran temperatures at least ten degrees higher than the surrounding climate, and maintained healthy body heat even in sub-zero regions, in fact, they increased it.

Stinky was out. The aquatic sacred lotus was pretty, but Zoro didn't want the fortune crickets wove with their song snuffed out through drowning, so adder's root it was. Usopp fired and the plant sprouted in Robin's garden and they placed the cricket below its leaves, away from its sticky mouth. Brook turned the pegs of his violin to the key-of-chirping, the cricket's call slipping past the cabin walls.

 **8:00** : **Spring Equinox** : Cook assured Zoro (and Nami and Robin) that he'd serve Chopper a perfect balance of cotton candy and chocolate from Cacao Town, along with candy marshmallows, almonds and a jam and biscuit mix. He wisely had not made a chocolate table (although he had the recipe from Pudding), and consumption of treats was rostered so that Chopper didn't get more than his fill (he never knew when to stop), and Luffy, none at all.

 **9:00: Fresh Gre** en: Equinox was all about balance, and half of the cotton candy was dyed that snap of green that lightens lands and the Sunny's garden with hints of better weather.

 **10:00** : **Grain Rain** : Cook boiled bamboo shoots in rice bran for a solid ninety minutes to remove bitterness, and then simmered them in a broth so they retained the crunch and promise of good eating for the year to come. Zoro, Franky, Sanji, Jinbe and Robin enjoyed them while the kids (including Nami and Brook) chowed down on the sweets.

 **11:00** : **Start of Summer:** In the area they sailed through, the sun rose slightly earlier than on Drum, Chopper's island of birth. So it was fine that real lunch began an hour before noon. Sanji served lucky sea bream as the cricket continued its call for a mate, and Brook lowered his violin in order to eat.

Chopper was another year older and sea bream was served in the best restaurants to celebrate new study, new jobs, new endeavours, new worlds.

* * *

**Noon** : **Lesser Fullness:** Nami fastened the box clasp of the 24 Karat gold-plated bracelet around Chopper's foreleg. His eyes glistened like the tint of burnt honey reflected in the gold. The real stuff was too soft to risk. It would take just one game of chasey around the Sunny for Luffy to grab at Chopper's arm and damage or lose the accessory; for Chopper to dent it as he scrabbled around a corner a tad too fast and breathless.

 **13:00** : **Grain in Ear:** The simulated pearls she draped over Chopper's antlers and around his hat were a bit more pricey, and not something Nami wanted to lose. He'd done a good job of being a doctor and pretty in Zou, so she was sure that he could be responsibly decorated now.

 **14:00:** **Summer Solstice:** Zoro aimed for a nap as lengthy as the longest day. Or tried to. He'd missed his morning shuteye, but every hour was Chopper's hour. Luffy leapt over his outstretched legs, then Usopp skirted them, then their doctor fell face first onto his lap, beads swinging, the bracelet hitting the deck.

Zoro opened his eye to a flurry of giggles as Chopper kicked back to launch himself off his abs. He grunted. That hurt, but he bit back his yell. As if Chopper ever listened. He fell asleep again to a skedaddle of hooves over the ship's surface.

 **15:00: Lesser Heat**. Sanji always made sure he prepared a separate bowl of salsa for Chopper. One without tabasco and no cummin. In fact, it was just smashed avocado. It was the same colour as half of that day's candy floss, so the little guy ate up before realising it wasn't sweet.

 **16:00** **Greater Heat** : The grown ups' plates were piled with spicy seafood marinara. A serving of plain pasta with a sauce of just tomatoes (no seeds or skin), salt and a touch of garlic was set aside for Chopper.

 **17:00** : **Beginning of Autumn:** The sun had left the sky, but the days were flexing, stretching out fingers stiff from lack of use. _Red at night, Sailor's delight. Red in the morning, Sailor's warning_. The crew rested against the Sunny's bannisters soaking in the fading orange glow.

Robin nodded as Zoro quickly snapped the warm clouds, bright with the end of the day.

* * *

**18:00** : **End of Heat** : Chopper's cocoa was cool enough to drink smoothly. He smiled up at Sanji around the rim of the mug. It was extra chocolatey and sweet.

 **19:00: White Dew** : Zoro knew they freaked out Nami and Cook, but he didn't mind the stowaway money spiders that wove thick white webs over surfaces, that glistened with dew in the mornings. He let a tiny one run over his hand. They brought good fortune, like the cricket. Nami mustn't know.

He didn't need it, but his swords hummed against his side. Some things could only be felt or understood innately.

 **20:00** : **Autumnal Equinox.** Chopper needed his sleep and turned in early each night at the same time. He was an amazing doctor, but still a growing boy. Hard to think that he wasn't much younger than Luffy and Usopp. On the other hand, when he was in doctor mode it was hard to think that Luffy and Usopp were older than him.

Along with naps, he didn't quite manage a full twelve hours, but just as his days were active his nights were usually restful, especially since he'd joined this ragtag crew.

 **21:00** : **Cold Dew** : Nami shrugged on another sweater. The reindeer on the front of it had a blue nose. Zoro whipped out the cameko.

"It's about the jumper, witch."

Nami snatched the cameko from his hands, the den-den mushi startled with the change, but settled. She took a few selfies, making sure both she and the design were in the picture.

 **22:00** : **First Frost** : There was no such thing as a sugar high or slump where Chopper was concerned. True, he'd groan and roll and complain that he didn't feel too good after bingeing, but he was always up for more. Sanji piped _The Best Doctor in the World_ in pink and blue icing onto the frosting of the chocolate truffle cake. It would sit beside the Christmas cake, not in lieu of it. He smiled around his cigarette, careful not to drop ash. He bet it wouldn't make him happy.

 **23:00:** **Beginning of Winter**. The beginning of winter was a lot warmer than the middle. Zoro finished up the final touches of the log book. Usopp had lettered the cover. _Tony Tony Chopper's Day: December 24_. He stood, stretched and groaned. Soon he'd fetch an extra blanket to lay at the foot of Chopper's bed. Just in case.

* * *

**December 25** : It was Christmas but Chopper pored over the book Zoro handed to him. Yesterday had been such a good day, and this added to it. A book, just for him, and Zoro had opened it to the twenty-fourth. _Chopper's Birthday_ was stamped in red at the top of the page.

The twenty-fourth was not the twenty-fifth and the twenty-fifth belonged to more birthdays than one, but the twenty-fourth was Chopper's birthday, not Christmas.

He was all stumble-tongued, looking up at Zoro. He was so happy and warm to be with a herd that didn't jut out right flanks and left, excluding him from their circle of deers with _out_ blue noses. That didn't exclude him for standing on two legs, for speaking the human tongue.

But the twenty-fourth was his day. Not Christmas.

The pages of the book listed, from midnight to the hour before midnight, the twenty-four individual hours of his special day. His hours and day, tied into seasonal shifts and life cycles. On two legs or four, speaking with Nami or the News Coo, he belonged.

The green cotton candy had been as delicious as the pink, and he approved of Sanji thinking about a balanced diet because, as a doctor, he'd been a bit worried, but not enough to stop stuffing his face with fluffiness. He was young.

Zoro sat behind him, the flats of his feet against one another, baggy trousers, his haramaki warm and soft and strong against his belly. Chopper didn't try to tamp down the smile stretching from one side of his face to the other. Zoro had ensured the day was his.

What was even better was the grin that crept across Zoro's face as Chopper turned the bracelet and tossed the pearls around a little (Nami let him wear them a second day), and that Zoro's smile was not about the Christmas present Chopper had selected.

Chopper was allowed to be happy. Bad things happened if he was too sure of himself, too pleased, but with Zoro nearby he knew he'd never overstep that mark again.

Usopp had sketched the morning sky into the blank pages at the beginning of the book, and Chopper marvelled at the clouds.

"Are they pink like that every morning?" Maybe he'd have to start getting up early.

"Not every morning."

"But they were on the twenty-fourth?"

"Of course."

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a link to the [solar units](https://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/the-24-solar-terms.htm). 
> 
> And [this lovely piece of art](https://twitter.com/A_Phu14/status/1341979983141597184) definitely influenced me while I was writing this. 
> 
> December kids definitely know the pain of being overshadowed by Christmas. Haha. I don't think that Chopper would mind, but being a reindeer, he gets double the Christmas symbolism heaped on top of him, although usually combined with his birthday.  
> [My tumblr](https://chromatic-lamina.tumblr.com/)  
> [My twitter](https://twitter.com/ChromaticLamina)


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